Meteor – I Made the Move
December 13th, 2005 Posted in Ireland, Mobile, MoneyYesterday, I bought myself a Nokia 6060 and joined the Meteor mobile network. It’s a nice functional phone and I liked the idea of owning a flip-phone and I also didn’t need a cameraphone as I carry a camera around quite often anyway. But what I would like to mention is a few little things that get hidden in the terms and conditions of Meteor.
First off, I was interested in getting the free Meteor-Meteor texts until the start of March 2008. Sounds great? But you have to use €20 credit each month to avail of this. Now, this isn’t much and there are probably kids out there that spend that in a weekend. But when you add the free credit that you get for joining the network (initial €10, €20 when you register and €10 each month for 7 months) it makes it harder on a low-usage mobile user to spend this money. And is it worth it if you weren’t going to spend the money in the first place?
Another point on the texts offered. You can get text bundles for 5c a text. That’s fantastic, cheaper than the other neworks here. But, what they don’t tell you is that you can only get one bundle a month so that’s 150 texts in one month then you get charged at 9c a text after that. So for the higher usage mobile user is it worth getting the 150 texts at a low rate and then getting charged more? Oh and another point, you can only avail of either the text bundle or the Meteor-Meteor texts. Not really highlighted in their massive advertising campaign.
The calls are definitely much cheaper on Meteor which is a good thing. It’ll shake things up among the other networks in the market, and about time too. Check out Call Costs for better info on this. The network you should go with definitely depends on your usage.
The whole process of changing networks only took about 2 hours from the time that I handed over my flexible friend to the time that my O2 phone lost it’s network but I would question the security surrounding the change over. I was not asked for ID of any sort in the shop, the salesperson did not ring my phone to verify it was mine, he didn’t even take my name. So, I could walk into a Meteor shop (and perhaps of the other vendors also) and say my phone number is such and such and 2 hours later I could be receiving Bono’s phone calls!
Update: Another downer is that the 300 free online texts can’t be sent to non-Irish numbers. Bit of a bummer as O2 allowed you to do this.
11 Responses to “Meteor – I Made the Move”
By Darran on Dec 13, 2005
I’m kicking myself i didn’t stay on with them back in the Day when it was Free texts for life.
You got free meteor sms and mms for life as long as you top up with 20euro. Most of my friends are on it, they spend 20euro one month and use the free texts, and the next month they just keep using the credit until its gone. Then the following month they top it up with 20 again!
Altho I was on the Network when they were offering free texts for life i went abroad for 3 months (and they had no roaming back then) and when i came back was cut off… and the offer finished so when i tried to reconnect i wasn’t able to get free text for life.
Now i’m going to be bitter for life.
By karol on Dec 14, 2005
They checked that the phone was mine alright when I changed to Meteor. Still kicking myself that I didnt change originally as then id have free texts for life but then again their network wasnt that good at the time. I thought the free texts went for all networks until i read the fine print, GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
Btw nice blog!! Come on Arsenal!!!
By donal on Dec 15, 2005
Darran: I think there are a lot of people out there who are on great offers from Meteor that aren’t available again. They seem to keep offering new deals all the time which makes it difficult for people to make up their mind about when to join them. They keep extending their deals and taking a little bit away until eventually they’ll just turn into money-grabbing monsters like the other networks.
Karol: The same but anymore comments about Arsenal and I’m gonna press the delete button … Thanks for the compliment though
By john on Feb 8, 2006
Meteor has improved, a year ago I wouldnt have touched it with a bargepole. Now that I have moved over, Im fairly satisfied with its service, although there has been times where calls have been poor in terms of reception.
I love the cheap calls on leisure time plus 40c peak 13c peak and 9c for texts. Although intially I was on Anytime Plus 20c a minute at all times, i use the phone in evenings and weekends, so it made sense to change, as Del boy would say.
Im gonna stick around on Meteor and give them the chance to improve, but if I get many fuck ups, Ill be moving back to Vodafone or O2.
By Shaun on May 20, 2006
HI,
I changed from Vodofone to Meteor and I was told that I would receive the same coverage as I would when I was with Vodafone. THIS WAS NOT THE CASE!
I was not told that I had to top-up every month by €20 euros to receive the free texts nor was my number tested on the change over! This was nothing but a complete balls as I had not got the same customer service as I did when dealing with my local Vodafone store.
[EXPLETIVES REMOVED]
Thanks for taking your time to read my review.
Shaun
By donal on May 20, 2006
Hey Shaun,
Thanks for leaving a comment. I’m not here to defend Meteor but from my experience they have great coverage and the deals are well worth topping up by €20 each month. The deal will run out eventually and you might have loads of extra credit (I have over €50 cos I don’t spend €20 each month with Meteor). Anecdotally, I have heard that Vodafone’s customer service is not so hot either. I think Meteor might just be a little overwhelmed by the sudden increase in numbers over the last few months.
Funnilly enough, as I’m writing this I just made a call, 2 actually, from my Meteor and both got cut off after approx 3 mins. This happens often enough which is annoying enough but overall I’m happy with Meteor.
By leigha on Apr 11, 2007
can i change networks 2 meteor on line??
By John on Jul 20, 2007
I changed to Meteor 2yrs ago now and I must say I am more than happy with the service, coverage, and experienced friendly professional staff. From the second I walked into the packed Meteor store on Henry St I felt appreciated and welcomed. A young fresh faced sales person approached fairly promptly, engaged me in conversation and eventually lead into probing my usage. She made me very at ease unlike the expres take away grab and go get out of my way service I recieved in both the Vodafone and o2 stores, I was just waiting to be asked if I wanted fries with my upgrade! In any dealings with Meteor sales staff or customer care staff I have found them to be more then helpfull. They really are the epitome of good customer service. A few minor points, If I have a problem I can complain… free, customer care is free even for prepay customers so you dont have to pay for the privelage of having a problem. Voicemail/ call catcher (quite a nifty service) free, Bill pay call plans are simple, straight forward and VAT inclusive. Overall Meteor are generally excellent, roaming rates in the UK are astounding even when compared with Vodafone passport or o2. And nice touch is U2 when you ring them instead of incoherent “lounge music” or adverts.
And they’re Irish. Long live Meteor.
By sabrina on Feb 27, 2009
iam on meteor and vodafone. i have to say meteor is brilliant, they have the most friendly staff and their call charges for international calls are brilliant. vodafone would charge me 2.50 € per minute while meteor charges just 0.50 a minute.
what a difference!